


Your Fairytale Ending

by seasons_of_stories



Category: Cinderella - All Media Types, Rags (2012)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Fairytale ending, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, i'm a sucker for happily ever afters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-23 02:26:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20884628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seasons_of_stories/pseuds/seasons_of_stories
Summary: “Charlie, you’re not…are you leaving?” she asked desperately, praying he will tell her otherwise.“I can’t stay,” he whispered, eyes still glued to his mother’s picture.“But—but where will you go! You have no money, no car, no…no…Charlie, you can’t be serious!”“What do you what me to do?!” Charlie ripped his eyes from his mother’s picture and faced Martha, trembling with righteous anger. “Do you think I can just stay here and watch Andrew live out my dream, using my stage name, singing my songs, falling in love with my…”His voice trailed off, and the anger faded as quickly as it came, and all that was left was hollow sadness. He squeezed eyes shut and bit down on his lower lip before continuing.“There’s nothing left for me here,” he admitted with a trembling voice. “Andrew’s going to be famous. Arthur’s going to be rich. They’re both going to sell my mother’s place…”~(missing scene from "Rags" told from the point of view of one of Charlie's mother figure, Martha)





	Your Fairytale Ending

**Author's Note:**

> This was purely self-indulgent and I am not ashamed to admit that! This was my favorite Nickelodeon Original Movie as a child, and probably my favorite Cinderella Story movie. 
> 
> I felt like there was something missing in between the scene Arthur and Andrew nearly stole Charlie's dream away from him, and the scene where Kadee revealed she knew it was Charlie the whole time, featuring a song that wasn't actually in the movie, but was on the soundtrack.
> 
> So please enjoy my overly self-indulgent angst and fluff that ends in a fairytale cliche manner that I'm an absolute sucker for!

Martha knew there was something wrong the moment Arthur told her and Diego to decorate The Palace for Andrew’s celebration party, and that they were forbidden to breathe a word of it to Charlie. She and Diego had exchanged suspicions about the ordeal, but they put two and two together when they opened the giant poster that had “RAGS” written next to Andrew’s picture.

Neither of them wanted to accept what was going to happen. They wanted so badly to throw caution to the wind and warn Charlie of what Arthur was going to do. But they refrained for only one reason: if they went against Arthur’s orders, _Charlie_ would be the one paying the price, not them. They had both hoped, prayed, and _begged_ the universe to tell them it wasn’t going to work, that Arthur would fail.

But the moment Charlie came home, and they rushed to hide so they didn’t know they could see him, one look at Charlie’s devastated face told them that Arthur’s cruel scheme went exactly as planned. Arthur swooped in and stole Charlie’s dream from underneath him.

Charlie bolted from the room when the celebration entourage entered, led by Arthur who lauded Andrew in a bombastic and obnoxious manner.

“I’ll man the bar. Go find Charlie,” Diego whispered to her.

He didn’t need to tell her twice. She maneuvered through the crowd and made her way up to Charlie’s room. On her way up, the sound of Charlie singing was growing louder. But this wasn’t the kind of singing he would do on the streets for people or in The Palace when Arthur wasn’t around, and it _definitely_ wasn’t the kind of singing he would do on stage. It was quiet, sorrowful, and empty, and such a stark contrast from his usual passionate, bright, and energetic vocals. It didn’t even sound like _Charlie_.

Not wanting to invade, she leaned slightly up against the door to hear what he was singing. Her heart sunk to the bottom of her chest when she realized he was singing his mother’s funeral song.

_“Things aren’t always what they seem to be. _

_And I just hope your memory’s proud of me. _

_I might cry myself to sleep… _

_And imagine that you’re here with me…” _

Charlie’s voice cracked toward end and he stopped singing. Martha considered for a moment giving him privacy, but the idea of leaving Charlie to drown in his sorrows alone repulsed and saddened her. So she gently knocked on his door. 

"Charlie? Can I come in?” she asked.

There was a beat where she didn’t hear any movement, but then faint shuffling grew louder and Charlie unlocked his bedroom door.

Martha breath hitched for a moment when she took a closer look at Charlie’s expression. His eyes were downcast, his shoulders slumped, and his typical supernova smile had burnt out. It was such an uncharacteristic look on him, she could almost swear his soul had just died.

“Charlie, I’m so so—”

“Don’t apologize,” he barely whispered. “Nothing would’ve stopped Arthur from taking this from me.”

Martha pulled him into a tight hug, which he only returned half-heartedly. He moved out of her arms after a moment or two, and trudged back to his bed to look at a faded picture, which he held with such care that Martha knew it could only be one thing. She was proven right when she sat down next to him and looked over his shoulder.

“She was beautiful, Charlie,” she said, barely above a whisper.

Mary Prince’s curly brown hair fell alluringly on her shoulders and framed her face perfectly. Her brown eyes had shone with stars and fire that was so bright, nothing would have been able to burn it out. Nothing except cancer, apparently.

But her smile…she was wearing the same supernova smile Charlie handed out on the dozens. Martha almost felt like she might cry, but she swallowed that urge down hard. This was _Charlie’s_ mother. This was _his_ grief that she couldn’t take from him.

“I’m letting her down,” Charlie admitted in quiet defeat. Martha looked at him with mild confusion. “She wanted good things for me, you know. She wanted me to grow up happy, to live life to the fullest, to chase after my ‘fairytale ending.’ And now…” he took a labored breath, before exhaling shakily, “Now, my dreams are dead…and I’m giving up. I don’t want to…but I don’t think I can do anything else.”

Martha was about to tell him that this wasn’t the end of everything, but she stopped when she eyed the large suitcase that was almost fully packed.

“Charlie, you’re not…are you leaving?” she asked desperately, praying he will tell her otherwise.

“I can’t stay,” he whispered, eyes still glued to his mother’s picture.

“But—but where will you go! You have no money, no car, no…Charlie, you can’t be serious!”

“What do you what me to do?!” Charlie ripped his eyes from his mother’s picture and faced Martha, trembling with righteous anger. “Do you think I can just stay here and watch Andrew live out my dream, using my stage name, singing my songs, falling in love with my…”

His voice trailed off, and the anger faded as quickly as it came, and all that was left was hollow sadness. He squeezed eyes shut and bit down on his lower lip before continuing.

“There’s nothing left for me here,” he admitted with a trembling voice. “Andrew’s going to be famous. Arthur’s going to be rich. They’re both going to sell my mother’s place…”

He stopped trying to speak and folded his arms protectively over his chest and Martha found she was at a complete loss of what to say to make him feel better. Martha usually knew how to comfort Charlie during his darkest moments. She knew what to do when he lost his mother. She knew what to do when he was bullied at school. She even had some inkling of an idea of what to do when Arthur hit him for the first time.

She had no idea how to alleviate this pain in a way that wasn’t a pretty, patronizing lie. She can’t tell him that Arthur and Andrew won’t get away with what they did, because life doesn’t work out like that. But there was no way in hell she was going to let Charlie believe that his dreams and dead and done.

She lifted Charlie’s chin to make him look at her, “People eventually end up where they’re meant to be. Maybe you’ll have to take the long way around, but I swear one day, it will be you up there on the stage, sharing your beautiful music with the world.”

Charlie’s eyes slowly began to fill with tears, and he answered, in the most defeated tone she had ever heard from him, “Thanks Martha, but I think this is a sign from the universe that I need to give it up.”

Martha found herself foolishly praying for a miracle to drop into their laps tonight. She should’ve learned her lesson by now that praying doesn’t work. It didn’t work when Charlie’s father walked out on him. It didn’t work when Mary died. It didn’t work when she and Diego found out they couldn’t have children. It didn’t work when Charlie had been stuck living under Arthur’s abuse for ten years and there was _nothing_ she nor Diego could do to stop it. And now it seems it still didn’t work the moment Charlie’s shot at happiness was finally within reach.

Even while knowing all this, she kept praying because maybe, just maybe one day the universe will answer back and tell her miracles can happen. But the universe decided today was not the day, no matter how much she wanted it to be.

“When you get where you need to go,” she said before putting a piece of paper with her and Diego’s numbers on it in Charlie’s hand, “call us. No matter where you are, you always have Diego and me.”

Charlie looked like he was going to say something, but as he struggled to form a coherent sentence, the tears fell. Martha wrapped her arms tightly around him and this time he hugged her back, trembling. She let Charlie weep quietly into her shoulder and she willed herself to not cry with him, to not give in to the intense sorrow she felt for him, to not just march downstairs and strangle the man who broke Charlie's spirit. 

So she prayed again.

_Mary, your son’s in pain and I can’t take that from him. Please, help him before he gives up completely. Please send him a sign before he leaves. I don’t want to lose him. I don’t want him to lose himself. Let something good happen for him. He deserves that much._

But she couldn’t pray a miracle into existence. She couldn’t take away Charlie’s suffering. All she could do right now is hold him through it.

~~~

Good things don’t just fall into your lap. If you want something in life, work is the only way to achieve it. But what’s the point of hard work if someone who never had to lift a finger in their life swoops in a steals the very thing you had been working towards? That’s the question Martha was asking herself when Kadee got on stage to congratulate “Rags” and when Charlie picked up his things, preparing to walk out of her life forever.

But then, for the first time in years, a miracle happened.

“Without further ado, please put your hands together for the real Rags: Mr. Charlie Prince!” Kadee Worth announced.

Martha was certain she had heard it wrong, that this was too good to be true. But this was happening. It was real. And by the look on Charlie’s face, he could hardly believe it himself.

“I’m sorry for the confusion. Charlie get your butt up here!” Kadee exclaimed, with a huge smile spread across her face.

And with that miracle, a supernova broke out on Charlie’s face as he raced to the stage to claim his rightful place in the spotlight. She and Diego happily removed the horrid poster of Andrew from the stage, and then she wrapped her arms around him, shaking with tears of complete unadulterated joy.

The rest of the night proceeded to feel more and more like a fairytale dream come true with every new turn of events.

She watched Charlie own the stage with such exhilaration and happiness, it was like he had finally come home from an arduous battle.

And like the sweetheart he was, Charlie gave the stage to Kadee, letting her shine as she sang her heartfelt poetry for the Palace.

She cheered for him as Mr. Worth shook Charlie’s hand, sealing the deal that he would make Charlie the superstar he was born to be.

She didn’t even bother trying to keep the smile off her face when Lloyd dropped the next miracle bomb, that The Palace was left Charlie’s name, not Arthur’s.

“I don’t…” Charlie trailed off, still in shock.

“This place is yours,” Diego told his, smiling.

“Charlie, you got your fairytale ending!” Martha exclaimed.

Then the largest supernova smile broke out onto Charlie’s face again, as if the sun had finally come out, and he was seeing the light for the first time. He knelt down on the edge of the stage and pulled her, Diego, and Lloyd into a hug.

“What am I supposed to do now?!” exclaimed Arthur.

Charlie broke from the embrace, allowing a triumphant and slightly devious smile play on his lips as he locked Arthur on the spot with a dangerous look in his eyes. “Don’t worry, Arthur. When I’m number one, you can clean the toilets of this place.”

Martha and Diego could not resist laughing at Charlie’s boldness and reveling in the distress of the man who put that kid through hell and back.

Kadee reached out her hand toward Charlie, which he eagerly accepted. Kadee whispered something inaudible to Charlie and the two shared a tender kiss on stage.

Martha and Diego whooped and hollered with the crowd, overcome with true happiness that these two superstars found each other, and were going to take on the world together.

Martha looked up, grateful beyond belief that her prayers were answered.

_Thank you, Mary. You made me believe miracles can happen. _

“And they all lived happily ever after, I guess,” Diego whispered into her ear.

Martha smiled in his direction and kissed him gently.

Happily ever after, indeed.


End file.
